Chapter 7182: Dark and Fast Three hours came and went faster than Ves desired. Discussions continued to take place even as the challenger received treatment and prepared for the next duel. More than a handful of people initially expected that a mech designer turned human phase lord would only put up a symbolic fight. In fact, even the Ascended Giants themselves thought that there was no way a non-combatant could possibly put the Unshakeable King on the backfoot. Suffice to say, all of their expectations broke as they heard or witnessed the dramatic downfall of the leader of the Ur-Titan Phalanx. Whereas they previously assumed that Ves only accepted the leadership challenge so that he could somehow persuade the Ascending Giants to appoint him as their leader despite losing all 4 duels, they now thought he had a legitimate chance of winning 3 out of 4 duels! The Ascended Giants agreed to the terms with the assumption that the ’Dark Apostle’ was a less than competent fighter. Just possessing the right physique was not enough. He had to be able to know how to perform the right techniques and leverage the power of his muscles the right way in order to utilize his true body properly. He also had to gain enough fighting sense and fighting instincts in order to keep up with some of the best human fighters around. While the Dark Apostle had indeed demonstrated shortcomings in these areas, the gap between him and the Unshakeable King was much smaller than anyone expected! Combined with the obvious equipment advantage, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the Unshakeable King ultimately succumbed against the challenger. The Ascended Giants fell into disarray. Their assumptions of superiority changed when they witnessed a new approach to fighting. Instead of relying on factors such as skills, teamwork and phasewater organs to win their battles, they began to place greater importance on the quality and performance of their wargear. Their current equipment was not up to standard! Investment in the development of raiments and weapons suitable for phase lords had stalled in the last few months. That was not necessarily bad as their equipment was still fairly modern, but the problem was that technology advanced at a rapid pace throughout the Red Ocean. New advances in phasewater technology, superdimensional technology, hyper technology, E-technology, materials science and so on kept pushing up the ceiling of what was possible with human technology. Ves had fully tapped into these cutting-edge developments. He had received extensive support from the Red Collective. This was not a trivial declaration, but a game-changing condition that enabled the challenger to gain access to some of the best tech and materials available to the superorganization! It was only now that the arrogant and conceited Ascended Giants recalled why the human race was able to dominate the Milky Way Galaxy despite their mortal frailties. Humans had a strong affinity for technology and always maintained a high pace of innovation, especially when they came in touch with novel alien tech or brand-new materials! As the Dark Apostle began to get cladded in a lighter raiment that was clearly aspected towards the darkness element, Secret Keeper Zariel-775 began to brief him on the latest intelligence. "So what are the Ascended Giants up to this time?" Ves asked as Blinky lazily circled above the Dark Apostle’s head. The shifty dark-robed spy actually looked quite fitting to remain in the presence of the Dark Apostle in his current loadout. Unlike the red and fiery Flame Lord Raiment, the new Dark Wing Raiment possessed a completely different look and feel. It lacked the mass and protection of the previous raiment. It was also devoid of anything related to the fire element. Just as its impromptu name suggested, the Dark Wing Raiment was a light raiment that possessed a disproportionately large and powerful flight system. When Ves examined it in detail, he noted that the collies had probably borrowed an excellent flight system from a first-class mech design and hastily scaled it up to his true body’s current proportions. It was an excellent design. Though it did not make inventive enough use of the darkness element, it was still an excellent flight system that possessed a good balance between instant acceleration and maximum output. What Ves appreciated the most was its short response time. It was very difficult to ensure that it was able to change direction or generate a powerful impulse in a split second when it became a lot larger than before. Excellent engineering. Just because the Red Collective primarily invested in cultivation science did not mean it fell behind in other areas. In fact, it was pretty accurate to describe the Dark Wing Raiment as a flight system that happened to be attached to an armored suit. Ves wanted to allocate as little mass as possible to the raiment. Not because he wanted to reserve mass capacity for other equipment, but because he wanted to be as fast and nimble as possible. His next adversary was an offensive powerhouse. Ves did not dare to rely on his raiment to tank her blows. Paired with a high-penetration spear that he called the Dark Tooth, the total package should be able to match the Fiery Axe in terms of speed and lethality. If the new D-arm was not enough to finish off the enemy phase lord, then the Dark Apostle could always fall back to the Murder Knife. Ves briefly inspected the D-arm that had tasted the blood of an Ascended Giant shortly after its creation. The Murder Knife had grown in ways that he did not expect. He had not been completely serious when he designed and made it in a hurry. It seemed to have embraced its name. The Minor Demon that had been forced to inhabit the weapon also embraced its new purpose, at least for the time being. It had a strong incentive to remain useful to its current wielders. The Murder Knife was able to grow by leaps and bounds so long as it was used in killing rituals. This was the best way for it to become powerful enough to escape its current owners and earn its freedom. Of course, Ves would never let this happen. He allowed the D-arm to indulge in its fantasies for the time being, but he would definitely crack down hard if the Murder Knife was about to launch its rebellion. Now that Ves had gained the expertise of a competent demonologist, he knew exactly how to keep his demons in check! "I think you will be happy to hear that the Ur-Titan Phalanx has appointed a much more sensible interim leader." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 responded to Ves’ earlier question. "The elite members of the Ur-Titan Phalanx have rallied behind Friedrich Sefenka." "The Grapple King." Ves recalled. "He’s the champion who is a strong advocate to making the Ascended Giants independent. The biggest difference between him and the Unshakeable King is that the new guy is not so eager to defect to the Red Cabal." "Correct. The Grapple King is only the interim strategos for the time being. If you have taken over the Phase Lord Department, it will be up to you to decide whether to confirm him as the new strategos or appoint a different phase lord to lead the Ur-Titans." "What is your advice?" "We will need to gather more intelligence before we can provide you with qualified advice. We can do that much easier if you have won the leadership challenge. We advise you to remain patient and wait before you attempt to make your mark on the Phase Lord Department. It is clear that we need to implement far-reaching reforms and personnel changes. This is the only way we can bring it back to order." The man made a sensible comment, but Ves was not too sure if he was willing to let the RC implement so many changes. He wanted to be sure that if he risked his life to take over the Ascended Giants, he actually remained in charge, and not a few shadowy bureaucrats from the Red Collective. An important means of retaining effective control over the department was to gain the loyalty of its most important leaders. If the Grapple King proved himself to be trustworthy enough, then Ves was willing to give him a chance. If not, then Ves should be able to pick one of the other 360 or so Ascended Giants to take charge over the Ur-Titans. Ideally, Ves would like to put his own Larkinsons in charge of the different Phalanxes, but that was not realistic for the time being. He had to make do with the current stock of phase lords, for better or worse. "How has the Fiery Axe responded to the first duel?" Ves asked another important question. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 "I think you will be happy to learn that she has completely changed her impression of you." The robed and hooded figure responded. "According to our scrying attempts, she has loudly praised your martial strength and has gained great confidence that you can lead the Ascended Giants to success. Similar to the Grapple King, she is still a strong advocate to form an independent race, so I cannot imagine that she will remain happy if you insist on keeping them attached to red humanity." Blinky raised his paw and rubbed his furry chin in thought. "If I follow the original plan and attempt to take her out, who will take her place?" "The Plasma Axe. He is a different sort of Ascended Giant than the Fiery Axe. The latter is a firebrand. She is always able to excite her men and exhort them to fight harder. Her overabundant passion compensates for her lacking administrative capabilities. The Plasma Axe neatly fills in her shortcomings. He is a more calculating and methodical individual. You can expect him to rely much more on logic. The downside is that he is not an inspiring leader and he is not known to perform well under time pressure. We also know relatively little about his true political stances." "That sounds like he is better off if he remains the deputy of the Flesh Chopper Phalanx." "We are eager to gain access to the databases of the headquarters of the Phase Lord Department." Zariel-775 vaguely said. "So what special measures has the Fiery Axe taken to prepare for our duel?" "We have been able to ascertain that she has made last-minute demands to her armorers. She has insisted on removing as much redundant armor plating from her raiment as possible. It appears that she is doubling down on her offensive strategy. The next duel will likely end much faster. Neither of you are carrying much armor into battle, so as long as one of you is able to breach the spatial barrier, you can quickly move on to inflicting heavy and crippling injuries." This kind of high-speed battle came with its own set of challenges. The Dark Apostle needed to rely a lot more on instincts and experience, neither of which he had in abundance. There was only so much an enlightenment fruit could do to impart these strengths. However, the match could dramatically swing in the favor of the duelist who possessed a sufficient mobility advantage. The Ascended Giant that was faster and more agile could dictate the engagements and completely reduce the other combatant into a target dummy. This was why Ves did not like what he just heard. Removing armor plating was not wise under normal circumstances, but it could make a big difference in the upcoming confrontation. "I see. I do not think that there is much she could throw away. She will still be weighed down by whatever armor she has left, her flight system and the energy needed to make it work and her formidable axes. Our gear should still be lighter, but the Fiery Axe likely has a phasewater organ or two that significantly increases her mobility." This meant that it was more likely for the female phase lord to possess an edge in speed!